Linguistic Discourse Analysis of the Lexico-Grammatical Features of Moves in the Research Abstracts of Medical Students in a Ghanaian University
Saved in:
| Title: | Linguistic Discourse Analysis of the Lexico-Grammatical Features of Moves in the Research Abstracts of Medical Students in a Ghanaian University |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Peace Fiadzomor (ORCID |
| Source: | Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics. 2024 7(2). |
| Availability: | Castledown Publishers. Ground Level, 470 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, 3004, Australia. Tel: +61-3-7003-8355; e-mail: contact@castledown.com; Web site: https://castledown.online/journals/ajal/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 20 |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Medical Students, Medical Education, Word Frequency, Grammar, Morphemes, Computational Linguistics, English for Academic Purposes, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Discourse Analysis, Undergraduate Students, Student Research, Documentation, Writing Evaluation, Universities, Vocabulary Skills, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries |
| Geographic Terms: | Ghana |
| ISSN: | 2209-0959 |
| Abstract: | Writing a quality research abstract is crucial for a scholarly report. An abstract should be informational and lexically dense, be formal, and have a professional tone. This requires precision, objectivity, logicality, technicality, and comprehensiveness. However, writing a good research abstract is a hurdle for novice and inexperienced undergraduate students who study English as a second language worldwide. This study investigated the research abstracts written by undergraduate medical students who also studied the English language at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Ghana. A qualitative-quantitative approach, guided by Hyland's five-move model, was used to analyse the lexico-grammatical features in the rhetorical moves of the research abstracts written by these students. A corpus of 23 extracts representing a quota of sample tenses, hedges, boosters, and nominalisation was analysed. The data were coded manually and presented as frequency counts and percentages in tables and graphically. The results revealed that rhetorical moves in the research abstracts written by the students were filled with simple past, simple present, and perfect tenses, alongside lexico-grammatical devices such as hedges, boosters, and nominalisation to a greater or lesser extent. We conclude that the research abstracts follow Hyland's rhetorical five-move model, and comprise specific lexico-grammatical features. The pedagogical implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1452784 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Writing a quality research abstract is crucial for a scholarly report. An abstract should be informational and lexically dense, be formal, and have a professional tone. This requires precision, objectivity, logicality, technicality, and comprehensiveness. However, writing a good research abstract is a hurdle for novice and inexperienced undergraduate students who study English as a second language worldwide. This study investigated the research abstracts written by undergraduate medical students who also studied the English language at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Ghana. A qualitative-quantitative approach, guided by Hyland's five-move model, was used to analyse the lexico-grammatical features in the rhetorical moves of the research abstracts written by these students. A corpus of 23 extracts representing a quota of sample tenses, hedges, boosters, and nominalisation was analysed. The data were coded manually and presented as frequency counts and percentages in tables and graphically. The results revealed that rhetorical moves in the research abstracts written by the students were filled with simple past, simple present, and perfect tenses, alongside lexico-grammatical devices such as hedges, boosters, and nominalisation to a greater or lesser extent. We conclude that the research abstracts follow Hyland's rhetorical five-move model, and comprise specific lexico-grammatical features. The pedagogical implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2209-0959 |
